Guest Column
Immigration and America's Future: A New Chapter
Migration Policy Institute
Final Report of the Independent Task Force
co-chaired by Spencer Abraham and Lee H. Hamilton
As the US Congress and the administration remain deadlocked on how to combat illegal immigration, a high-level, bipartisan task force has called for fundamental reform of US immigration laws and system.
The report and recommendations of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, co-chaired by former Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-IN), seek to reconcile the need to meet strong economic and social demands for legal immigration with the imperative to strengthen enforcement and safeguard national security. Other Task Force members include prominent business, labor, and immigrant advocacy leaders; policy experts; public officials; and members of Congress who came together to find common ground.
Immigration and America’s Future: A New Chapter moves beyond
illegal immigration to articulate a vision that promotes US global
competitiveness in the context of post-9/11 security imperatives, while
grappling with many of the technical details that are frustrating reform
efforts. The report argues that the nation’s current laws, dating back to
the 1950s, are outdated and unsuited to the economic, social, and
demographic realities of the 21st century.
Among its recommendations, the Task Force calls on Congress and the
president to:
Redesign and simplify the immigration system by formally establishing three streams for immigration that correspond more closely to the way immigrants and their employers make decisions: temporary, provisional, and permanent. The new provisional category allows workers meeting long-term labor market needs to transition from an initially temporary to a permanent immigration status. This category recognizes that many immigrant workers use temporary visas as a bridge to permanent status rather than as a means to work in seasonal or limited duration jobs. The provisional visa would be open to workers of all skill levels who have an offer of employment, recognizing the country’s need for workers across the skill spectrum. Furthermore, the number of nonimmigrant visa classifications would be reduced from 24 to 7 to streamline and make the system more transparent.
Create a strategic growth visa to entice extremely talented individuals in strategically important fields to come and work in the United States with minimal bureaucratic involvement. This visa category will allow the country to compete more successfully for top-level international talent.
Create a Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets. The Commission would be an independent body in the Executive Branch that would make regular recommendations to Congress and the president for adjusting immigration levels based on ongoing analyses of labor market needs and changing economic and demographic trends. The Commission would introduce a key element now lacking in the United States: a systematic and evidence-based process for adjusting levels and adapting immigration categories to economic needs.
Provide employers with a verification mechanism that allows them to comply with requirements for hiring only authorized workers, and develop a new secure, biometric Social Security card that enables individuals to readily establish their work eligibility.
Accelerate implementation of “Smart Border” measures that use equipment, personnel, and cutting-edge technology more effectively and strengthen accountability by establishing measures of effectiveness and requiring an annual progress report on meeting them.
Devote the same depth and urgency to detecting, disrupting, and dismantling terrorist travel as to terrorist communications and finance.
Establish a National Office on Immigrant Integration that provides a focal point at the federal level for state, local, and private sector integration initiatives.
Provide a path to legal status for unauthorized immigrants who can demonstrate steady employment, knowledge of English, payment of taxes, and the will to play by the rules, as well as pass a background security check, among other requirements.
Name a White House coordinator for immigration policy and issue an executive order establishing an interagency cabinet committee for immigration policy that unifies all immigration policy planning activities. Such activities are now divided among numerous US agencies charged with immigration duties. In doing so, the United States would move closer to the model of other countries, such as Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, or New Zealand, which all have cabinet-level immigration ministries.
Finally, the report recommends that the US government engage its neighbors in a broad conversation about the management of labor flows within the region in the context of regional economic and security interdependence.
Since the release of their report in Washington, Task Force members are presenting their findings and recommendations in various cities across the country and will work with policymakers at all levels of government as well as other stakeholders to broaden the scope of the national debate on immigration reform.
The Migration Policy Institute has prepared the report as a durable foundation upon which to build the discourse and policies that can meet the challenges and opportunities posed by immigration for the 21st century.
The Division of United States Studies and the Mexico
Institute of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and
Manhattan Institute have collaborated with MPI in convening the
Task Force.
The report can be ordered online for $14.95, plus shipping & handling, for
global delivery.
Order in the United States
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Order outside the United States
For questions or to request a free brochure (in the
United States), please email
info@migrationpolicy.org or
call 202-266-1908. Thank you.
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